


Blue Sky

by Filigree



Category: Eroica Yori Ai o Komete | From Eroica with Love
Genre: Death, M/M, September 11 Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-24
Updated: 2010-11-24
Packaged: 2017-10-13 08:52:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/135426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Filigree/pseuds/Filigree
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angst and catharsis in the aftermath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: September 11, 2001
> 
> A nasty little bit that has been gnawing its way out of me for a week. Some people will call it ‘insensitive’, some will call it ‘catharsis’ -- I just call it ‘Blue Sky’.

“Are you enjoying the view, Major?” Dorian asked, just a little too brightly. He’d found a tiny private space on that vast rooftop, and now sat with his back snuggled against a generator housing.

“No, I am not,” said Klaus, looking over the generator and Dorian’s head, toward the billowing clouds of black smoke and pale ash. The first tower – already gone, its steely heart slashed and incinerated, weakened so much that its sheer mass had sealed its fate.

Their sanctuary, Klaus feared, must share the same fate. Already, the whole roof under his feet shook and swayed, almost a comforting motion. Across the roof, thirty or forty other people gathered. Klaus ignored them – their bravery or stunned terror was nothing to him, now. Rescue helicopters couldn’t get there in time. Not even NATO’s finest could help them, now. He couldn’t save himself. Couldn’t save Dorian --

“From where I sit,” Dorian said, “I can see only blue sky. And you.”

Klaus looked down at him then. The Earl’s grin was flawless, bright and soft. His cream silk suit was smudged and torn from their escape to the roof, and his hair was a sweat-dampened riot of golden curls. The man had never looked more beautiful.

The roof thrummed from another shock, far below them.

“Sit down, Klaus,” Dorian said.

Klaus sat. Dorian leaned nearer, one arm coming around to hug the Major’s head against his own shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“I am, too. I wish –” The other man’s body was suddenly a comfort, not an evil temptation to be avoided.

“Wish what?”

“That I had not been such a coward all these years,” said Klaus decisively, “or a fool.”

“You? Never,” said Dorian.

Klaus moved free of the arm, gently, staring back at that calm, lovely face. “I have been – over you. And now it ends like this. I have always guessed I would die in the line of duty. But I had hoped – hoped you would go on.”

The siren’s smile wavered a bit. “Oh, darling. You know that wouldn’t happen. With you, or soon after you – I would follow you. Anywhere. I love you.”

“I don’t deserve it.”

“Doesn’t matter. I just do.”

“You are – important – to me, as well,” Klaus admitted in a sigh. “Life would be emptier, without you.”

“Well, then, we’ve finally agreed on something! We like each other.”

“No. I do not like you.”

Dorian glared, obviously confused by the mixed signals of Klaus’ stern voice and yielding body. Klaus damned his own armour, so inflexible after all these years.

He tried again. “I love you.”

Dorian’s jaw dropped, his hands going slack on Klaus’ shoulders.

Klaus took the moment and leaned in for a kiss, his lips at first barely touching the other’s. Then Dorian’s mouth opened to his. Tongues searched and met, dueled hungrily against each other. Dorian’s mouth tasted metallic, from blood or fear, but Klaus didn’t mind. When he could think again, he decided it was a satisfactory first kiss.

“Well,” said Dorian, still breathless.

“Yes,” said Klaus, unholstering the impotent Magnum that his NATO clearance had let him carry into the building this morning. “This is loaded, liebling. If you wish it, I can – “

“No,” said his brave, enchanting thief. “I’ll accept what comes, even if it’s some slow dismal death in the dark – if I can have a few more moments in your arms.”

Klaus kissed him again. It was better this time, less accidental knocking-of-teeth. He hoped the world would end during the kiss – he seemed less aware, then, of anything but Dorian. But the world and the fragile roof stayed intact, as the other man pulled just far enough away to look at him.

Joy could be incandescent. A holy force, a benediction. Klaus had never understood it until this moment. Dorian’s smile pulled one from him in return. Klaus felt – reassured. Some heavy weight, known and adapted to all his life, blew away in tatters from his heart. Everything would be –

“Everything will be all right.” Dorian nodded as he finished Klaus’ thought out loud. “We’re together, as we were meant to be – “

“I wonder – ” Klaus began.

The world ended.

fin


End file.
